The Impact of the
Gene
From Mendel's Peas to Designer Babies
By Colin Tudge
Hill and Wang
375 pgs. $US27, C$43

The growth of science

By Steven Martinovichweb
posted September 10, 2001

Perhaps
illustrating the quickening pace of science, it was only in February 1997
that researchers at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the birth
of Dolly, a sheep that was the first mammal cloned from an adult. Only
five years later in August 2001, Italian professor Severino Antinori and
U.S. researcher Panos Zavos announced they would clone a human being by
transferring DNA from the nuclei of living cells into human eggs in November
to create a human embryo, which would be implanted into a woman's uterus.

If opponents of human cloning can blame anyone for these developments,
it may be ninetieth century monk Gregor Mendel, the world's first geneticist.
With an elegant experiment involving peas, Mendel was the first person
to establish the basic laws of heredity, laws which Colin Tudge, author
of The Impact of the Gene: From Mendel's Peas to Designer Babies, states
are the basic principles from which modern genetics is drawn from.

As Tudge writes the story, Mendel's experiments were breathtaking in
their simplicity but were ignored by contemporaries like Charles Darwin,
only to be rediscovered decades after his death. By combining the work
of the two men, it was learned that evolution works at the level of the
gene and not the individual, as many lay people still believe, and allowed
scientists in the early Twentieth Century to create the science and language
of modern biology. From there, Tudge embarks on a lively journey to illustrate
that, as he states, all genetics are footnotes to Mendel.

Along the way he defends evolutionary psychology and explains the difficulty
in making a "better" human being (wheat breeders go through
millions of offspring to come up with good combinations). While it is
technically possible to create a designer baby, nothing is impossible
after all, it won't likely be very feasible considering the monumental
challenge of understanding the millions, perhaps even billions, of genetic
factors that influence something like intelligence. Ultimately, says Tudge,
it is "foolish" for us to tinker with ourselves given it took
five million years for the modern human being to evolve. If our knowledge
isn't absolute, and we can never be sure it is, interfering with processes
we may not understand can bring repercussions we may rue.

That will probably be good news for those opposed to genetically engineering
human beings. Cloning a human being is a relatively simple procedure.
Simply put, it is merely the copy of genetic material, something that
happens automatically in nature. Despite recent reports that cloning human
beings may be easier - relatively speaking - then cloning sheep, creating,
or at least modifying, at the genetic level is a remarkably complex task
that may not be possible until the advent of quantum computing.

For such a enjoyable effort, his epilogue is a severe and completely
unexpected disappointment. Focusing on the ethical challenges that biotechnology
raises, Tudge argues quite correctly that as our power grows, so does
our responsibility, and that our understanding of what we can do and what
can be done will never be complete. From there, however, Tudge veers off
into odd territory, arguing that we should determine moral absolutes with
the help of "prophets" who would frame the moral premises we
will debate. These prophets, who may or may not be people of religion,
would essentially use a religious framework because of its emotional appeal,
something Tudge seems to argue is more powerful to the average person
then rational argument.

Moreover, Tudge argues that our misgivings about biotechnology are valuable
because they are intuitive: a fear that going too far will provoke the
penalties of hubris. Mere human happiness, says Tudge, is not the primary
criterion to be used in decision-making. Tudge uses those arguments to
press for controls of the free market (a "limited and blunt"
instrument) to make sure that the benefits, if any, go to more than those
who can pay.

Of course, if human happiness isn't the primary criterion - presumably
things like ridding the world of genetic disorders and allowing the childless
to extend their lineages are moral actions - and the free market is not
the most efficient way to provide that benefit (much more valuable commodities
- such as food - seem to be spread around quite well), then pursuing genetic
technology is at best a mixed blessing. For most of Impact of the Gene,
Tudge seems to argue that it will bless us, only at the end to seemingly
step back. It diminishes an otherwise fine effort.

Steven Martinovich is a freelance writer in Sudbury, Ontario.

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